Increasing urbanization, poor land use practices, deposition of air emissions, poorly treated storm water flows, contaminated ground water discharges to surface water, point and nonpoint discharges of pollution, and increased use of some chemicals and nutrients among many different types of primarily human activities have led to the degradation of surface water quality. Once some types of pollution enter a water body, they can continue to impact surface water quality and use for many years; even after removing external sources of pollution. In the case of some nutrients such as phosphorus, sulfates and nitrates, this can lead to harmful algae blooms, changes in water chemistry, recreational and potable limitations on water use and economic impacts such as reduced real estate values or revenue for industries relying on clean water.
Thus, there is a need for cost effective, scalable and portable means to remove some types of pollutants present as total solids (dissolved, colloidal and total suspended solids including nutrients, algae and cyanobacteria) in surface water bodies.